Island Games 2023 – 3,000m Steeplechase – Men’s

Results for Island Games 3,000m Steeplechase, 11^th July

Daniel Eckersley (2^nd Claim Ryde Harriers) 09:49.10 (Silver, 2^nd)

Noah Patey (Team IOW) 10:56.66 (6^th)

(7 finishers, winning time 09:48.83)

Full results https://results.guernsey2023.gg/Sports/ATHLETICS/default.aspx?SportID=2&EventID=49

2nd in the Island Games 3000m steeplechase. 9:49.10, 0.27sec behind the winner – those are the bare facts.

I was beaten by a Rio 2016 Olympian, the current Estonian steeplechase record holder, Kaur Kivistik. I am incredibly proud to have pushed an athlete of that calibre all the way to the line (caveat – he raced the 10,000m the day before…)

The race was slow. Super slow. We were jogging for 2km then he dropped the hammer and caught me out. But I wasn’t done, and made up the 15m gap and gave myself a chance in the final sprint. He kicked twice and I clawed it back each time. We came off the final barrier level…and he just got me on the line. Simple as that. I’ve never run the first 2km slower and never run the last km faster. It hurt. I was taking crazy risks over the hurdles, even brushing my knee against one. I left it all out there, that’s for sure.

Win or…not quite win, the memory I will cherish from this race is the crowd. We are largely amateur, hobbyist athletes, we never get to compete in an atmosphere like that. In 25 years of sport, I’ve never experienced anything like it, maybe 1,500 people screaming for you, it was absolutely rocking. It was deafening in the home straight on that last lap. The adrenaline was off the scale, it kept me awake until 3am afterwards. Goodness only knows how it must feel racing in an 80,000-seater job. Huge props to the Guernsey organisers for stepping up the Games in terms of presentation and ‘feel’ at the track.

The amount of congratulations and hugs I received at the track and back at the team hotel after the race made me quite emotional. It was universal – not a hint of disappointment amongst them. One complete stranger even came up to me at the track and said ‘that race made my day’. I replied, ‘well, you saying that made mine’.

I’m still conflicted, almost the atmosphere and the closeness of the result made the defeat tougher to take, as I daydream about just how good it would have felt to win. The fact that it’s taken me so long to get something as simple as a Facebook post tells you that. Do I overthink things too much? Probably. Do I take it waaay too seriously? Also probably.

As always, hugely proud to represent my adopted home of the Isle of Wight. It’s an honour to win a medal, just one, of any colour; I know that. I only ever wanted one, and now (humblebrag) I have a fifth. After 3 years of various lockdowns and injuries I’m so grateful to be back and still doing this at 36. Two years to stay healthy for the next one. Hope to see you all again in Orkney

Report by Daniel Eckersley

It was silver for Dan Daniel Eckersley in a captivating 3,000m Steeplechase, twice champion Dan found himself up again Kaur Kivistik 2016 Olympian in this event. Kivisrik having won the 10,000m the day before. A slow early pace saw four athletes grouped together until Kivistik took the initiative off of the water jump with just over 2 laps to go. Dan found himself having to respond a bit earlier than expected and had to navigate his way around the other two athletes. Kivistik had stole a march and gained a 15m lead quickly. Dan stepped up his pace and used his superior hurdling skills to close the gap gradually until the home straight, where it became a sprint for the line. Kivistik with the crowd roaring managed to hold his place to win by 0.2seconds. Dan afterwards though disappointed to lose his title was pleased with his performance and had gained the respect of an Olympian. He could have easily have settled for silver, but instead provided us all with a demonstration of what it means to be a competitive athlete.

Also competing in the event was Noah Patey who as part of the development group acquitted himself admirably with a personal best performance of 10:56.66, amazing considering the day after being selected his foot was in a cast with a suspected fracture!

Report by Nick Groocock

For more information on Island Games – Team IOW https://teamiow.org.uk/

Island Games – Team IOW would like to thank all their sponsors https://teamiow.org.uk/sponsors/

For more information and all the results for Island Games – Guernsey 2023 http://guernsey2023.gg/